"Mom, I’m not as poor as you think. I used to do a bit of business with the factory director and I’m not short of money," Ruan Jianguo was at a loss for words. Why did it always seem like the Ruanlin Family thought he was desperately impoverished?
"Isn’t it because I’m worried you might not have enough?" Ruanlin Family glared at him, pushed him irritably away, then turned around to go outside and call for Ruan Jiaojiao to lull her to sleep. She didn’t bring up what happened at Qian Xiabai’s house that morning.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her own son, but rather she didn’t trust Shu Jiao.
She had actually been satisfied with this daughter-in-law in the past. Her own background wasn’t great, so she naturally didn’t mind her daughter-in-law’s status. However, since Shu Jiao left last year and hasn’t returned, leading to Ruan Jiaojiao falling ill several times, she really couldn’t maintain her favorable impression.
Furthermore, Shu Jiao was a highly educated intellectual and might not believe in these things.
Xiu Xi came out of the back mountain path during Ruan Jiaojiao’s nap, dragging a roe deer that was on its last breath.
He hadn’t taken this path when he went in, so Ruan Jianguo, who was at the village entrance, didn’t see him enter. Otherwise, he would have definitely stopped him. Now, seeing him dragging out a roe deer that weighed at least thirty to forty pounds, Jianguo was startled.
Several workers nearby noticed as well and immediately stopped their tasks to join Jianguo in approaching him.
"Xiaoxi!" Ruan Jianguo walked up with a frown.
Xiu Xi, dragging the thirty-odd pound roe deer easily, stopped when he saw Ruan Jianguo rushing towards him, gazing at him with a puzzled look.
Seeing his confused expression, Jianguo was both shocked and angry. He couldn’t help but reprimand, "Who let you go behind the mountain! Why would you go in there without saying a word? What if something had happened to you!"
In the face of Jianguo’s shock and anger, Xiu Xi appeared much calmer, "It wouldn’t have."
"It wouldn’t have what! You child, really..." Jianguo didn’t know what to say. Xiaoxi wasn’t one of his own mischievous boys; otherwise, he would have smacked him right on the head.
All he could do was crouch down in front of him, his voice earnest as he spoke, "Remember when Jiaojiao was kidnapped by monkeys last time? Have you forgotten? What if you were kidnapped? Wouldn’t your family be..." thinking of his frustrating family, he changed the subject, "Wouldn’t Jiaojiao be heartbroken? She loves playing with you the most."
If it were about anyone else, Xiu Xi wouldn’t care, but when it came to Ruan Jiaojiao, he was definitely responsive.
"It won’t happen. Monkeys...they wouldn’t dare," he earnestly explained. Those monkeys didn’t have the courage to come near him.
"You..." Jianguo nearly burst into laughter out of frustration, not knowing what to say, simply stating, "Anyway, you are not allowed to go into the back mountain casually anymore, understand?"
Xiu Xi did not respond, and Jianguo took that as an agreement. He then turned his attention to the roe deer behind him, which several workers were surrounding, marveling in amazement.
"Kid, where did you hunt this?"
Roe deer meat is quite tough and not very flavorful, but everyone is poor now, and having meat to eat is better than none. Moreover, roe deer are curious and would approach people, making them easy to hunt. But they haven’t even seen a roe deer as big as this one, let alone encountered one!
This kid is really lucky.
Naturally, Xiu Xi wouldn’t answer them. He continued dragging the roe deer towards the Ruan Family house, while Jianguo watched for a moment before catching up to help him lift it.
As they walked, he asked, "This roe deer is quite large, are you taking it back home?" He was referring to the Xiu Family.